Journalists as heroes in the horror of a disinformed society

Have you ever been a victim of a clickbait headline of something so unbelievable your jaw dropped, making you click and read on the article? I know I have.

Clickbait is an example of fake news. Something to wrile an audience up. Something so unbelievable that you would never imagine someone would make it up, therefore you believe it to be true.

According to Chapter 9 of "Mobile and Social Media Journalism" by Anthony Adornato, fake news is defined as “the deliberate fabrication of information with the intent to deceive.” The Cambridge Dictionary’s definition also states, “False stories that appear to be news, spread on the internet or using other media, usually created to influence political views or as a joke.”

Adornato said since the term fake news often means believing “your side,” it is more important to use the terms misinformation and disinformation, types of “information pollution choking public discourse.” I’d like to agree with Adornato on this one, although they go hand in hand.

Although these definitions are broad yet factual, I believe there is more to each person’s motivations behind posting disinformation. When people start to believe something is true, the intent to deceive may not be the motivator, they might want to spread this information because it is so unbelievable that they want more people to know about it. Or, someone just wants those clicks to become famous or gain money.

The spread of disinformation appeals to our emotions. If it lines up with our viewpoint, we can use this emotional response to discredit the other side to make our side seem stronger.

It’s a game of emotion and addiction.

Adornato wrote how the rampant diffusion of disinformation is large in part due to the technology companies and social media platforms news is being shared on. They have been criticized for failing to prioritize factually accurate content.

Despite this, there are new features developed allowing users to flag questionable content. Facebook as well has a third-party fact-checking organization to identify and review false content.

Is this enough? The answer is a hard no.

Disinformation is designed to take advantage of how the system works, almost like a virus. People are finding ways around these protective features through algorithms and SEO tactics. Technology companies are also profiting from these false posts so do they really want to completely diminish the spread of disinformation?

7 types of mis- and disinformation courtesy of "Mobile and Social Media Journalism" by Anthony Adornato

So the question is, are journalists our last hope in combatting disinformation?

The answer could be hopeful. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans are actually leaning back to journalists to combat the fake news problem. We have a responsibility to educate the public and report truthful information.

I found it quite interesting how, in a study of 900 fake news articles, there was one difference within the articles and real journalist content: biased opinions.

Is this a way to be able to distinguish fake news articles?

This is a tough answer for me. Yes, anyone falling into the quicksand death trap of fake news should be analyzing where it is coming from and who wrote it, but even some journalists can be the perpetrator.

I don’t believe there is ever going to be a way to stop people’s actions of posting misinformation and disinformation, it is guided by people’s actions and decisions and if they want to do it, they’re going to do it. But, It is our duty as a new generation of journalists to stop this thread and go back to factual and trustworthy journalism.

Utilizing social media to connect with our audiences and transparently show them the effort it takes to research and report factually accurate information, as well as show evidential proof to debunking a fake news story may be the first step for us.

Once we gain that trust, we have the resources, such as fact-checking efforts, to prove a story is misinformed and people will believe us rather than the true source. This will then be spread through the public as, according to Adornato, most adults recognize the gravity of this problem.

Do you think journalists are our only hope left to combat the spread of disinformation? Would you speak up if you knew a story wasn’t true? Is this a problem that may ruin our society and democracy if not stopped?

In the digital era, nothing can be stopped but resources like journalists can be the heroes in this horror movie.